13-Year-Old’s Nudity Results in Court Blocking Film : Movies: The boy’s mother gets injunction from Irish justice system to stop release of ‘War of the Buttons.’ Warner Bros. will contest the complaint.

The worldwide release of a new film produced by former Columbia studio boss David Puttnam has been blocked by an Irish court--after a woman complained that her 13-year-old son appeared nude in the production.

An injunction filed in Cork, Ireland, prevents the release of “The War of the Buttons,” due for its world premiere in Dublin on July 29. Much of the filming took place near Skibbereen, on Ireland’s western coast, last year.

Warner Bros., the distributor of the film, will contest the injunction, which prevents the studio from screening, distributing or releasing the $8.5-million film, which had been expected to be released in the United States later this year. Warners spokesman Julian Senior said the film had been seen by two research audiences of parents and children in Britain before the injunction was filed.

Puttnam said he was unable to comment about the injunction for legal reasons.

“The War of the Buttons” was adapted by screenwriter Colin Welland (“Chariots of Fire”) from a French novel, “La Guerre des Boutons,” by Louis Fergaud. The story is about two adjacent towns whose children constantly battle each other; their fights are determined by the number of buttons that can be ripped from opponents’ coats. Eighteen Skibbereen children were given roles in the film.

The scene to which the boy’s mother objected shows a group of boys running down a hillside into battle naked, thus preventing the rival boys from tearing their clothes.

The boy’s attorneys told the court that his parents withdrew him from the production after he took part in the scene, which required 12 takes over two days. After the scene, the court was told, the boy seemed “a bit down.”

Senior said the boys wore “modesty pouches” for the scene. “The boy in question is seen fleetingly from the back,” he added. “I have seen ‘The War of the Buttons’ myself and it is a delightful, funny, charming little film. Anyone who talks about it in terms of the nudity is getting it quite wrong.

“We are now putting together an affidavit to get the injunction lifted on Friday.” It is expected that the judge, Mr. Justice Moran, will see the film himself before making a decision.

“The War of the Buttons” had been scheduled for an October release in Britain, but that depends on the outcome of the court case. “The only people who this will hurt” are those in the Irish film community, Senior added. “The film is suitable for children, and it tested very well with both parents and children at our screenings.”